


The Dark of Winter

by Tanist



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Friendship, landspirits, magic.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-21 01:15:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14905710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tanist/pseuds/Tanist
Summary: Emil and Lalli make their way back to the tank after a hunting trip to provision the crew through an oncoming  storm. Emil learns a little about landspirits, magic and his friend.





	The Dark of Winter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sc0ut](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Sc0ut).



> This story was originally written as a gift for Sc0ut in the 2016 Secret Santa.

"The way this fog is closing in, I doubt we'll make the tank by dark. What do you think, Lalli?"

Emil hoped the scout could understand enough of his words to work out his meaning, but Lalli's face remained unreadable, his only reply a shrug of his bloody and heavily burdened shoulders. Emil himself was stooped under an even heavier load. Earlier that day Lalli had insisted that Tuuri tell Sigrun a serious storm was on the way, likely to last for several days, and she had promptly sent the pair of them out to hunt for meat before the weather set in hard enough to confine everyone to the tank. He wondered how Lalli even knew that a storm was coming. Certainly there was no sign of it just now, though there must be cloud on the horizon to account for the colours of the sunset. As the sun lowered, a heavy, clinging fog had risen from the damp earth, reducing their view to a sphere just a few feet across, condensing in cold droplets on clothing, skin and weapons, dripping from the dark trees. That had slowed them down enough to ensure that they were still a couple of miles from the tank when the last daylight faded. 

Lalli stopped, stood a moment as if listening intently, then turned aside into the forest, beckoning Emil to follow. Emil sighed, adjusted his load of venison and followed the silent, gracile form slipping between the trees. At least the forest floor with its deep spongy layer of moss and decaying leaves muffled their steps, though he supposed it was just as likely to keep him from hearing any grossling that might choose to sneak up on them.

Suddenly Lalli wasn't ahead of him any longer. Emil froze in confusion and sudden fear, but after a moment the scout reappeared, sliding out of a gap in the pile of rocks that Emil now realised was in front of him, almost within reach of his hand, and gestured to him to come up. As Emil scrambled up the rocks he saw that Lalli stood in the entrance of a tiny cave formed by three large rocks leaning together. He sagged in relief - at least it looked defensible, if not warm. They might survive the night. 

As soon as their loads were stowed in the back of the cave, Lalli turned to Emil, holding out a hand. "Knife. Yours is heavy." he whispered in his simple Swedish. Then with Emil's knife in hand he slipped out, returning several times with armloads of leafy aromatic pine boughs, then with more sticks and pine cones dry enough to burn. Once the green boughs had been arranged to his satisfaction into a sort of nest, he set the sticks and cones in a neat pile, closed his eyes for a moment, and called fire into it. Emil tried not to gape. He knew by now that this was only a small spell, something a mage child could do, but watching Lalli work actual magic still made him shiver.

While the fire burned its way down to coals Lalli retrieved his puukko and carved a dozen thin slices from their load of meat.

"Lalli, that's way too much!" Emil protested. "We won't eat all of that." 

"Not all for us. Some for the little ones, the landspirits. We feed them, they guard us, warn us of danger, as they warned me of the storm. Good." He held half of the pieces of venison on green sticks over the fire until the meat was lightly cooked and warmed through, then piled the cooked slices onto a leafy end of pine bough and carried the food outside. Emil heard him speaking what sounded like a few lines of poetry before he slipped back into the cave.

"Now you cook for us. I will speak with Reynir, tell Sigrun." Lalli said. "Wake me for food." He crawled into the heap of pine boughs, curled on his side and was asleep in seconds. Emil sighed and took over the grilling of meat.

..............................................................

They ate in companionable silence. The cave warmed from the small fire and the heat of their bodies. Outside the fog thickened, rolling in slow waves through the silent forest. Emil realised that despite being out in the Silent World winter night, he felt the most relaxed and happy he had been in years, perhaps in his entire life. Lalli, too, looked comfortable and at ease when he strolled back to the rough bed. There was a small smile on his lips as he lay down and held out a hand to Emil. 

"Come." he said.


End file.
